After
by TheSocialLoner
Summary: Almost counts for nothing. But what happens after almost? Sequel to Almost.


**AN:**

**Me: Sequel time bitches! Yeah, this is the continuation of Almost… so if you haven't read it you should or you won't get the story. And I MAY (wink wink nudge nudge audience audience) Be working off of livefreely's idea…**

**But you'll have to read to find out**

**Enjoy mah terrible writing! :3

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After

The idea that one single emotion can describe how a person feels is idiotic at best. There's no way that someone could only feel one thing is impossible because things are always just too complex. Like how Courtney felt as she walked away from Duncan. Depressed, angry, betrayed, lonely, broken; she felt them all. Unbearable would be a good way to describe it.

She walked away from him slowly. She gave him every chance to run after her, sweep her up, and tell her he was sorry and how much he loved her. That was the way they worked. They fought, were mad at each other for a minute or two, then one of them would apologize and they'd have a long make-out session. It was dysfunctional, but it was them. But Duncan never took the chance Courtney gave him. He just stood there, his face registering a mixture of unreadable emotions.

Courtney suddenly felt a warm sensation on her face. She touched her cheek and felt hot tears trickle onto her fingers. She wiped the tears away but they just kept coming down and soon she was sobbing. Courtney bared her teeth and cursed herself. Crying was one thing she hated. It showed weakness, and she refused to appear weak around others, or even herself.

_Why didn't he follow me? _She thought, distraught and trying to find an answer. _Maybe he didn't know what to say because this fight was so random. Or maybe… maybe I was right. Maybe he never cared about me. Maybe I was just a game to him. _The different possibilities floated around her mind but none of them really seemed to fit. It was funny how he seemed to know her so well, but she could hardly ever tell what he was thinking.

When Courtney reached the unlocked door of her room in the hotel she thrust it open and collapsed on her bed.

_Courtney stop it! _She screamed internally. _Men aren't worth your tears! _

But, nevertheless, her tears still flowed.

. . .

Duncan stared out at where Courtney once stood for what seemed like hours. It seemed to him, like his world was ending. No matter how many times he denied it, Courtney meant everything to him. But now she was gone.

After a while, the frigid night air got to Duncan, and he started back towards his room in the extravagant resort. While he walked he replayed his fight with Courtney in his head, searching for the main problem that he could solve to win her back. The part he got stuck on was when she started to cry. Heartless, emotionless, invincible Courtney cried. And it was all his fault. He felt something strange in his gut. It was guilt.

Duncan almost never felt guilty. In order to be a good criminal, who he was, you couldn't feel remorse for anything you've done. He looked back into his memory to figure out the last time he had felt guilty. Then he remembered. Back when he was six, he was playing with a ball in the house and accidentally broke an old vase. Not wanting to get in trouble, he blamed the trashed family heirloom on his beloved dog Petey. In a temper, his father grabbed the sports section of the paper, which was very thick due to the 8 page long article about the history of hockey, and whacked Petey with it. Hard. Little Duncan immediately burst into tears and confessed to breaking the vase. To him, making Courtney was like beating a puppy. Duncan couldn't bear it.

Once the mohawked teenager was inside his room, he collapsed on the queen sized bed without bothering to change out of his baggy black swim trunks. How could he be so stupid to let her go? To let her think that she was nothing to him except a toy? Suddenly, Duncan felt rage well up in his stomach.

_This is all Justin's fault, _His face got hot from anger. _We were fine until his came along and used his handsome mind tricks! _

_Were you fine?_

_YES!_

_Oh really? Because I distinctly remember Courtney going psycho and making you a 'relationship list'. I also remember you voting Courtney off and breaking her heart. Not to mention you telling all your friends that you were just dating her because she's hot. Let's face it; your relationship with Courtney has been strained ever since Total Drama Action started._

_Well… What do you know!_

_I'm your conscience. I know everything._

Duncan stopped his internal battle before it got too far and decided that his conscience was completely wrong. The whole thing was Justin's fault, seeing as he was the cause of all life's problems. Well, at least he was the cause of all of the problems in Duncan's life.

Duncan felt hope start to bubble up in his stomach. Since it was _clearly_ Justin's fault, winning Courtney back wouldn't be that hard. All he'd have to do was apologize to her tomorrow, compliment her, kiss her, and she'd be his again.

For the first time all night, Duncan felt calm. He rested his head on the bed's soft feather pillow and slept soundly.

. . .

Courtney awakened at 10 am the next morning, which was late for her. She woke with a start, due to an unsettling dream she experienced. _He _was in it.

_*dream*_

_For some reason, everyone was back at Camp Wawanakwa. Duncan and Courtney were sitting on the docks in bathing suits, dipping their feet in the lukewarm water._

_Duncan said something to her, something that was important in the dream but she couldn't remember after she woke, which made her blush._

_She looked up at him suddenly, softy smiling, "I'm crazy about you Duncan. You know that, right?"_

_Rather than responding to her with a sweet 'Right back atcha babe' like she was expecting him to, he started laughing. But this wasn't a happy laugh. It was a cold, humorless, evil laugh. It was frightening her._

_Courtney got up to run away from him but when she turned around she discovered that she was surrounded by people. All of them had that terrifying maniacal cackle, just like Duncan._

_And each and every one was laughing at her. Stupid lovesick girl._

_*dream*_

Courtney shuddered at the memory. She slammed back on her feather pillow, chocolate hair fanning her sad face like a halo. She thought she must have resembled a fallen angel with her halo of hair and white sheet covering her pajama clad body.

"Maybe," she muttered, her voice raspy and cold, "If I just lay here I can live in peace."

As if the universe heard her and felt it needed to give her more karma for her bad behavior during the last season of Total Drama, her unlocked hotel door burst open and a panting and wheezing Bridgette running in.

Courtney groaned and lifted her head to see her best (and only) friend. The surfer girl was normally sloppy, but she looked messier than normal which told Courtney she had came in a rush. Bridgette's blond hair was frizzy and untamed, which matched her strange outfit that consisted of dolphin slippers and a long navy raincoat. In her right arm she carried a shopping bag full of assorted magazines, ice cream tubs, and articles of clothing.

"Oh my gosh, I heard what happened! Are you ok?" she ran to Courtney's bedside as if she were a hospital patient with cancer, "Don't worry, I'll be with you through the whole grieving process! I brought magazines, clothes, and ice cream! Now tell me everything that stupid, lying, cheating, obnoxious, douchebag said to you! EVERYTHING!"

Courtney's tired eyes widened at Bridgette's terminology. She knew the girl didn't like Duncan but that was just… wow. This was just what Courtney needed right now.

"Everything?" Courtney sighed.

"Everything." The blond sat down and handed Courtney a tub of lactose free mocha chip ice cream from her bag and got herself a tub of rainbow sherbert. After eating a mouthful or the frozen treat, Bridgette motioned for Courtney to talk.

So she did. She told her everything. Not just the fight, but the whole story of their relationship going down the tubes. Bridgette sat there listening patiently, not interrupting except to comment or shovel sherbert into her mouth.

Once her tale was told, both teens were in tears.

"And I just don't get it." Courtney paused to wipe a salty trail of tears on her left cheek, "I thought he cared about me."

Bridgette rubbed her cloudy hazel eyes and hugged Courtney. "He never deserved you Court. Someone once told me that men aren't worth your tears, and the one who is won't make you cry."

Courtney smiled softly, Bridgette was such a good friend. Even after how mean she'd been to her and the rest of the contestant on the show she still wanted to be her friend. Courtney hugged her back. Who needs a million friends when you have one like Bridgette?

Bridgette pulled away from their embrace and picked up her bag. "Courtney, we're gonna prove to the world that you don't need Duncan McAssholeFace." There was a quiet determination in her voice, and Courtney liked it.

"How?" Courtney had to admit, she was stumped.

She smirked mischievously, "You'll see."

. . .

Duncan sat with alone with Geoff and DJ in the cafeteria. Since practically everyone had already heard what happened and he was clearly the villain, no one else would sit with him. But he didn't care about that; he was too busy focusing on Courtney. He dreaded the moment she'd walk through the door. Minutes seemed like hours.

_Maybe she won't show up. _Duncan thought hopefully though he knew in order to get her back he'd need to face her eventually.

Fate must have been in a spiteful mood, because almost seconds after the thought had crossed the teens mind, his current ex strutted through the door. She was followed by Bridgette who had the same swagger in her walk and self assured smile on her face. When Duncan caught the blonde's eye she gave him a smirk. But he didn't seem to notice, he was too busy gazing at Courtney who seemed to steal everyone's attention.

Courtney was more beautiful than ever. She wore her bangs out and her hair was pulled into a high pony tail with a few strands framing her mocha face. A royal purple tank top clung to her in all the right ways, and her legs were outlined perfectly in a denim mini skirt and black leggings. Smiling confidently, she looked as close to a goddess as you could get.

The two girls walked to the buffet table and picked out their food while the whole tent stared silently at Duncan's ex girlfriend. They sat down at an empty table. In mild annoyance, Courtney shouted, "Carry on."

As if hypnotized, the room followed her command and continued with what they were previously doing. Justin saw this as his chance to talk to Courtney.

"My, my, Courtney you're breathtaking." He took the seat next to her and flashed a smiled.

She blushed in response and batted her lightly mascara-ed eyelashes at him. "Thanks Justin. It's nice for someone to notice."

Duncan felt that was directed at him, and he felt his blood boil in anger towards Mr. Model Justin.

As if he read Duncan's thoughts, Justin continued flirting with Courtney. "Who wouldn't notice? They'd have to be blind not to see your obvious beauty."

Giggling softly, Courtney batted his muscular arm playfully. "Justin, stop it! You're too sweet! I'm not that great."

"Oh Courtney, you're so modest." He took one of her delicate hands in his, "I'm so sorry about what happened last night."

Courtney's smile faded. "You heard about that?"

"Yes." Justin frowned and nodded solemnly. "How stupid of _him_ to not realize the value of someone like you."

Duncan tightly gripped the table in rage and attempted to jump out of his seat and pummel the pretty boy. Luckily for Justin, he didn't get the chance to stand up due to Geoff lightly tugging his shirt and shaking his head.

"What!" Duncan whispered savagely.

"Don't look like a bigger jerk than you already do." Geoff said quietly. Geoff wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, but he did have those moments when he was completely right. That happened to be one of those moments. Duncan stayed seated.

Luckily for Duncan, he wasn't the only one upset by Justin and Courtney's flirting. Katie and Sadie (who were at the time obsessed with Justin _and _Trent) frowned at Justin's interest in Courtney.

"Justin!" they called in unison, "Come heeeeeereeee!"

Justin sighed and got up. "Sorry. I'll see you around, _Princess._"

. . .

Duncan waited for the room to be empty except for him and Courtney. DJ and Geoff left eventually saying they'd be waiting for him outside. Unfortunately for him, Bridgette wasn't that quick to leave her friend. Finally, after seeing that Bridgette wasn't going anywhere without Courtney, Duncan took matters into his own hands.

He walked over to the two girls and shoved his hands in his pockets awkwardly. "Hey, Courtney, could I talk to you? Alone?"

Courtney opened her mouth to answer but Bridgette beat her to it. "No she will most certainly not talk to you! You've made it perfectly clear that you _don't _care about her, so why don't you just leave and let her live her life in peace!"

Duncan stared blankly at the now panting surfer girl. He had _never _seen her that angry. Bridgette blushed slightly at her temper but didn't back down. She stood protectively in front of Courtney like an alarmed mother bear. Courtney put a calming hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay Bridgette," she said soothingly, "I'll talk to him. Meet you outside, kay?"

Bridgette gave a small nod and walked out, giving Duncan one last glare as she left. Courtney turned her attention back onto Duncan. "What?" she snapped, her voice slicing through him like a knife.

Duncan sighed and put his hand behind his head uncomfortably. "Well, you know I've been pretty upset about this breakup and seeing that it's all Justin's fault-"

Courtney cut him off. "Justin's fault! Are you that self righteous that you can't admit that some things are your fault?" she screeched, her voice shrill.

"Courtney I still really like you!"

"Oh really? Then why did you leave me?"

"I never meant to leave you! Can't you get over this, it just happened yesterday!"

Courtney's voice suddenly became a whisper. "You left me a long time ago."

And with that Courtney slowly left the room leaving Duncan alone with the remains of his shattered heart.

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**AN:**

**Me: Yeah… I just revised the second chapter of Almost to make this…**

**Noah: How creative.**

**Me: You're such a meanie. Why do I keep putting you in my author's notes!**

**Izzy: Because he's sexy.**

**Me: That he is. BTW I'm a little obsessed with comparing angry Bridgette to a mother bear :3 Thumbs up for mama bear Bridge!**

**Bridgette: R&R! Rawr :3 **


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